Go for Gold!

     It's an exciting time right now in America.  The Olympics has just finished up with the US finishing on top with the most medals and consequently the most gold medals.  The Presidential race is heating up with talks from both camps guaranteeing their candidate for victory in a few short months.  Football, both NFL and NCAA, are rearing up to start while baseball is nearing the end with the World Series in October.  There's quite a lot going on and yet Tracy and I are not very aware of any of it. I myself caught maybe three or four minutes here and there of three or four events in the Olympics.  (To be perfectly honest though, I have never really cared at all about the Olympics).  As far as the Presidential race is concerned all I know about either candidate is what I hear about in commercials for the news shows (again, being perfectly honest, I hold very little stock in who the president is and think neither is worthy of a vote, although that's best saved for another talk that I'll never have).  I suppose my point is that with all that's going on in the world we seem to focus a lot of our daily attention to Jude right now.  It's tough not to.  Not only because he's so cute, which is fact whether it's coming from his dad or not, but also because he is making some exciting progress in his growth.
     As some may have already heard Jude has recently started trialing off his ventilator (as you can see up above he likes to even trial himself off).  What this means is that three or four times a day we unhook him completely from the ventilator for up to five minutes and let him breath completely independently.  So far, it is has gone really well with the exception of his allergies flaring up and getting him a little sick earlier this week.  Even with his allergies, it was an unexplainable feeling to hold him and walk around the house for the first time, completely free from any hoses hanging off of him.  From the look on his face he thought it was pretty neat too.  In addition to trialing off the vent, we recently started him on some solid foods.  Now, to clarify, I mean more taste-testing than eating.  He's not exactly getting a meal out of the foods.  Tracy has fed him some basic baby foods: your strawberry/blueberries, your strained sweet potatoes, etc.  He also tried some condiments which was recommended by his Occupational Therapist.  He seemed to like ranch dressing the most, although if I were choosing from salsa, ketchup, and ranch I think I would choose ranch out of the three as well.
     It's exciting to see Jude at this point along the journey we also know that we have a long way to go.  Many have asked us when Jude will be off the ventilator completely.  I wish I knew that answer or that anyone knew that answer.  That's between Jude and God, I suppose.  We can hope that by around the Holiday season (November to the end of January or so) we can expect him to be off the ventilator during the daytime if things continue to go well.  We will slowly, month by month, increase his time off the vent until he is off for a half an hour or more at a time until he shows that he has no real need to be on it.  He will be on it at night for awhile, however.  Since we slow our breathing down when we sleep, vent-babies are kept on the vent at night even after they are breathing independently during the daytime for a significant period.  Even just imagining him off the ventilator during the daytime hours seems fictitious and a million years away.

     For now, we are excited to see his progress and feel very fortunate for all the support we have been given and continue to get.  We would be far worse off if we did not have so many people by our side and God who provides everything we need, including love and friendship.  I will try to keep those that are interested updated on Jude's progress and hope to post a video soon with his time spent off the vent.